The Man On The Island [COMPLETE]

Not Alone

? — Day ?

Smoke...

That was my first thought as I woke up this morning: I smell smoke. I stood up and scrutinized the horizon for a boat, an old-fashioned one that would have run on coal. Nothing. I spun around, scanning my surroundings, and I found the source of the smell. A column of white smoke was rising from the other side of the island.

There had been no lightning the night before, no reason for that smoke to be there, unless...

"Is someone on the island?!"

I ran.

Before I had breakfast, before I even unloaded my morning pee, I ran.

I dodged the trees, the bushes, the rocks. I jumped over a fallen log. I ran faster than I remembered running in my entire life.

The thin jungle cleared and another strand of beach appeared. A fire encircled by stones was smoking away wildly...

... and a man was sitting by it!

His knees pressed against his chest, he rocked himself back and forth. He seemed demolished and about ready to cry, hoping against hope for a rescue. My heart went out to him right away. Oh, how I could relate!

And so, I ran to him.

He heard me and turned around. Not knowing if I was friend or foe, he hurried to his feet and took a step back, hiding in the thick smoke.

I never even slowed down ... until a gust of wind blew the smoke away, revealing the man's features.

I stopped dead in my tracks. Those features ... they were mine.

That man was me.

To this hour, I cannot remember what happened next. I most likely fainted since my next memory is of waking up by the smoky fire. The man was gone by then. He has not returned yet, but I don't mind, I'll wait.

It's not like I have anything else to do.

And it's not like he's got anywhere else to go.

***

Today — in a cold, white building...

Two men in long coats stood above a third one in a hospital bed. The third man appears to be awake, but his eyes will not meet the shapes of the men standing beside him.

"How much longer?" asked one of the standing men to the doctor who'd entered.

"It's hard to say. You've put him through a great deal. I still can't reach him."

"Every man's an island, they say."

"Shh! Be careful what you say around him The hypnosis is strong but he can still hear you. There's no telling how his brain might interpret it."

"I suppose not." The man smiled a toothy grin. "But wouldn't it be fun to find out?"

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THE END

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